Picking up on how CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux hailed, as "a bold display of presidential concern," President Obama hugging a woman at Wednesday's health care forum, Jim Pinkerton , on FNC's Fox Newswatch, pointed out that "in the middle of all of this Stalinesque fakery at this town hall meeting" Malveaux's characterization "is like Stalin putting Ukrainian family victims on his lap during the '30s." To illustrate, FNC producers displayed a vintage poster showing Stalin hoisting a little child who held up a Soviet flag. During a discussion on the program aired Saturday afternoon about how all the questions at... continue reading

In announcing that she was stepping down as Alaska Governor on Friday, Sarah Palin noted the unrelenting hostility of liberal media elites. In the barely ten months since she burst onto the national scene, Palin has been scorned and mocked by journalists - including many supposedly objective reporters - like few other politicians. Here are a few of the choicer attacks, as compiled from MRC's Notable Quotables newsletter: "She is a far-right conservative who supported Pat Buchanan over George W. Bush in 2000. She thinks global warming is a hoax and backs the teaching of creationism in public schools. Women... continue reading

Sarah Palin's "bombshell" holiday announcement that she will resign as Governor of Alaska managed to trump Michael Jackson as the lead on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts Friday night as NBC's Chuck Todd predicted she will now make fundraising appearances for GOP candidates where she'll draw in "car-wreck watchers." CBS reporter Nancy Cordes reflected the tone of the stories when she described "a rambling, at times confusing announcement," while on all three newscasts Palin's decision was called "bizarre." NBC News White House reporter Chuck Todd, who suggested she decided to quit so she could "make a lot of... continue reading

The unemployment rate in June jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since 1983, as 467,000 jobs were lost, yet Thursday's CBS Evening News managed to air a story that didn't mention President Barack Obama or his "stimulus" bill while the NBC story only touched Obama's policies by running a soundbite of the President defending the lack of positive impact so far from his policies: "It took years for us to get into this mess and it will take us more than a few months to turn it around." CBS reporter Anthony Mason remarked: "Hopefully it's a one-month blip." In contrast,... continue reading

On Thursday's Today, Meredith Vieira tossed mostly softballs to Senator-elect Al Franken, offering no tough questions about the disputed 2008 election, instead fawning, "... Are you more worried about becoming a target for the GOP or a target for Saturday Night Live, your old stomping ground? " In regards to the post-election wrangling for the Minnesota Senate seat, the best Vieira could do was to wonder, "It did get a little contentious, didn't it?" To be fair, she did reference the closeness of the election. Noting Franken's 312 vote margin of victory, Vieira observed, "Are you conscious of that as... continue reading

NBC's Meredith Vieira on Thursday conducted a defensive interview with Fox News contributor Dick Morris, at one point skeptically wondering if "the Republican tactic from this point on" would be "to sit and watch Obama fail." Later, when Morris pointed out the problems with the Canadian health care system, the Today host retorted, "But, the President clearly has said that's not the road he's headed down." On one level, NBC should be commended for actually featuring Morris to talk about "Catastrophe," his new anti-Obama book. But, the interview didn't air until 8:51am, long after many Americans had left for work... continue reading

CNN glowingly featured an entire segment on Thursday's American Morning about Wendell Potter, a former chief corporate spokesman for the health insurance company Cigna, and he attempted to discredit conservative ad campaigns against health "reform" proposals as "outright lies." But reporter Jim Acosta left out his current ideological employment: since May, Potter has worked as a senior fellow on health care for the Center for Media and Democracy , the brainchild of John Stauber, the co-author of "Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America Into a One-Party State," and a unpaid advisor to the anti-war group Iraq Veterans... continue reading

Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz reported Thursday on black females on the Michelle Obama beat, and whether their shared race and gender produces gauzier coverage. "Indeed, most write with enthusiasm, in some cases even admiration, about the first lady as a long-awaited role model for black women." Kurtz found: "Without a doubt, I identify with her as a brown-skinned African American woman," [Newsweek's Allison] Samuels says. "Now we have Michelle and see her as a mother, a lawyer, a wife, and she's doing it fabulously." Samuels got to interview Obama during the campaign and "we had a girlfriend-to-girlfriend moment... continue reading

Network reporters swooned over President Barack Obama hugging a woman, who has cancer and lacks insurance, at his Wednesday "town hall" on health care, as both CNN - where Suzanne Malveaux heralded the hug as "a bold display of presidential concern" - and NBC failed to point out how all the questions (just seven in total) were pre-selected or from members of pro-Obama groups. Instead, NBC's Savannah Guthrie showed a kid in a video ("My mommy and daddy have small businesses, and we need health care") before she touted how Obama "solicited questions on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and in person,... continue reading

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